News

Tyrone 0-17 Derry 1-5: Tyrone in complete control

IN AN extensive collection Ulster has few rivalries to match the bitter taste Derry and Tyrone produce when they are brought together, but yesterday the recipe turned out an unimaginably bland result. Tyrone comfortably found the improvement they required after last week’s slip in Clones, but after yesterday’s replay Derry will wonder which performance was the bigger freak.

It was a game that should provoke a few weeks of hard thinking in Derry. While nothing they tried clicked the team seemed bereft of spirit, emerging far more shaken from the flurry of juddering tackles and punches that gripped the first quarter. At midfield, Anthony Tohill provided what spark they had, but even that was well doused.

With Paddy Bradley successfully neutralised, Derry’s scoring limitations were cruelly exposed. After Kevin McCloy’s point after 10 minutes, Derry failed to score again for 43, more a reflection of their utter failure to compete